“They need to keep them out of sight,” Rafferty says. “Under their shirts or something, until they absolutely have to pull them out. And the people they’re photographing can’t see them.” He picks one up. “Watch. The screen swivels up, so you can look down at it. Hold the camera at chest or even belt level, just don’t bring it up to the eye. Anything held up to the eye is a dead bust.”
“Anything else?” Boo says. “I mean, anything we can’t work out ourselves?”
“Yes. I’m deadly serious about them staying out of reach. If anyone even looks at you, beat it. Walk away. If they come after you, run. But these things have a zoom lens, so don’t get close. Is that understood? Because if it isn’t, we can forget it right now.”
“Relax,” Boo says. “This isn’t as dangerous as what they do every night. Sooner or later one of the pedos is going to grab a kid and hold him hostage while he tries to talk his way through the cops.”
At the word “pedos,” Arthit and Kosit both look up at Boo. Before they can ask a question, though, Rafferty says, “But I’m not responsible for that. They’re not doing that for me. They’re doing this for me, and they’ll be careful, all right?”
“Pedos’?” Kosit demands, his eyes narrow.
“I’ll tell you later,” Rafferty says.
Boo says, “Who are we watching?”
“A bunch of guys,” Rafferty says. “You’ve met Pan and Dr. Ravi, so you should be on the team at Pan’s place, but stay out of sight. Officer Kosit has pictures of most of the others.”
“They just brought me along to carry stuff,” Kosit says. He reaches back into the bag and takes out a manila envelope. From the envelope he withdraws several black-and-white photographs, pulled from police files by the patrolman who helped him arrest Rafferty. He puts the first one on the shawl.
“Wichat,” Boo says sourly, looking down. “Some of us already know him by sight.”
“I do,” says the girl with the exploding hair.
“Okay,” Boo says, “you and two others will be on Sathorn.” To Kosit he says, “Who else?”
“A cop,” Kosit says, putting a photo of Thanom on the shawl. “This is someone to be very careful of.”
“Looks like a monkey,” Boo says.
“He
“And there’s also a rich guy,” Rafferty says. Ton looks up, startled by the camera, in one of the photos taken at the malaria event. Captain Teeth glowers over Ton’s shoulder “The guy just behind him is not anyone to get close to.”
Rafferty spreads the pictures out. “There’s one more,” he says. “But we haven’t got a photo. He’ll probably be with these two, or with the one with the bad teeth, there, in the picture. You’ll pick them all up at the house where the rich guy, whose name is Ton, lives, or maybe at his office.”
“You have addresses?” Boo is examining the photos one at a time.
“Sure,” Rafferty says.
“And what you want…” Boo says.
“I want everything they do, wherever they go. And I’ll say it one more time: I want the kids to stay as far away as possible. I’d rather have bad pictures, or no pictures, than to have a kid get caught. Teams of no fewer than three, so they divide up if they get chased.”
“Phones,” Kosit prompts.
“Right. Here’s how you talk to me, and to each other, if anything happens.”
Kosit upends the bag, and a dozen cell phones, all makes and several colors, cascade out. “Stolen and resold,” Kosit says. “Although as a cop I’d never say that. The SIM cards are all new, bought for cash. Prepaid up to five thousand baht each. No records, nothing that can be traced.”
“And one each for you and Rose,” Rafferty says to Miaow, picking up two of them. “Get out your old ones.”
Not speaking, Miaow shifts her weight so she can reach into her pocket. She comes up with her phone, holding it without looking at anyone. She seems to be staring through the nearest wall and all the way across the river. When Miaow moves, Da’s eyes go to her. Rafferty takes the phone and hands it to Rose, who’s holding her own.
“Throw them in the river,” he says.
Rose nods, but for the moment she puts them on the dirt floor.
“Are we clear on all this?” Rafferty asks Boo.
Boo puts down the photos and picks up one of the phones. “Starting when?”
“Right now. I’ll give everybody money for moto-taxis. Just wave the bills at them. And listen, if anybody gets something out of the ordinary-for example, if any of these people meet each other-I want a phone call the moment you’ve got your video and you’re out of sight.” He gets up, dusting his jeans, and Arthit and Kosit follow suit. “I’m going to say it again, and I’m talking to every single one of you. If you’re in any kind of danger, forget the video. Just run.”
“We already know about running,” says the girl with the exploding hair.
“Good,” Rafferty says. “Let’s get started.”
“SHE NEEDS TO work it out for herself,” Rose says.
